Seeds: A note from the Editors
Jennifer Goff and Julia Moriarty
Seeds
Co-Founder of the Moscow Art Theatre Vladimir Nemirovich Danchenko introduced the concept of the seed (зерно) to describe the central element that underlies and ties together all events in a script. In this issue, the seeds our authors explore of their respective theatrical and narrative events are necessarily varied - from national to personal identity, from commercialism to humanism, from legend to childhood.
Our first three articles examine seeds of identity in their respective texts. A sort of reductive, cartoonish nationality grounds Daniel Ciba's exploration of David Ives's popular adaptations, while sincere, deeply felt national identity and trauma are at the heart of Kristi Good's study of Sebastian Barry's Ancestors Cycle. And Sebastian Tanner follows identity away from the nation to the "Name of the Father" in his exploration of masculinity in The Importance of Being Earnest. Our other three articles focus more on the mode of story telling than on the stories themselves, investigating the seeds of the audience's relationship to the performance or the story. Kelsey Laine Jacobson examines the immersive theatre experience and the value of the fundamental element of repeatability. Mead K. Hunter delves into traditional Disney narrative structures and the way they may expand to engage international viewers. And Norman Cahn picks apart the musical and experiential construction of nostalgia in the raucous "Hasa Diga Eebowai" from The Book of Mormon. These thoughtful discussions explore the seeds of performances, texts, and the theatrical event itself, in conversation with the ways in which these seeds take root in the audiences that engage with them.
Co-Founder of the Moscow Art Theatre Vladimir Nemirovich Danchenko introduced the concept of the seed (зерно) to describe the central element that underlies and ties together all events in a script. In this issue, the seeds our authors explore of their respective theatrical and narrative events are necessarily varied - from national to personal identity, from commercialism to humanism, from legend to childhood.
Our first three articles examine seeds of identity in their respective texts. A sort of reductive, cartoonish nationality grounds Daniel Ciba's exploration of David Ives's popular adaptations, while sincere, deeply felt national identity and trauma are at the heart of Kristi Good's study of Sebastian Barry's Ancestors Cycle. And Sebastian Tanner follows identity away from the nation to the "Name of the Father" in his exploration of masculinity in The Importance of Being Earnest. Our other three articles focus more on the mode of story telling than on the stories themselves, investigating the seeds of the audience's relationship to the performance or the story. Kelsey Laine Jacobson examines the immersive theatre experience and the value of the fundamental element of repeatability. Mead K. Hunter delves into traditional Disney narrative structures and the way they may expand to engage international viewers. And Norman Cahn picks apart the musical and experiential construction of nostalgia in the raucous "Hasa Diga Eebowai" from The Book of Mormon. These thoughtful discussions explore the seeds of performances, texts, and the theatrical event itself, in conversation with the ways in which these seeds take root in the audiences that engage with them.
- JG & JM
